1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an improved installation for automatically taking photographs or sequences of photographs, and in particular identity photographs, portraits or short films recorded on video cassettes.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The need for identity photos, both for official documents and for tickets, etc. has already existed for a long time, and is increasing. In fact, in face of the magnitude of demand, automatic installations capable of allowing such identity photos to be taken were quick to emerge. Such installations generally comprise a booth which can be closed at least partially, provided with a seat on which the subject to be photographed sits. Facing the seat there is a transparent window behind which a photographic camera is mounted which is capable of taking photographs in association with a flash or a lighting bank. After approximate adjustment of the height of the seat, the user inserts the sum required into a coin slot mechanism in order to cause activation of the photographic camera and the taking of one or more photographs in a given format.
The drawback of such installations resides in the fact that the adjustment of the positioning of the subject is never more than approximate and is rarely satisfactory inasmuch as it is not possible for the subject himself to check the framing and general appearance of the photograph.
Installations of the type in question, provided in addition with a video camera connected to a viewing screen which is intended to allow the subject to view the photograph to be taken, have therefore been proposed. This screen is in general positioned at the level of the partition of the booth comprising the image acquisition system, but off-axis with respect to the optical axis of said system. After said subject is satisfied with the photo to be taken by viewing said screen, he actuates via an element a photographic camera of the type previously described, the shooting in itself remaining conventional. It is obvious that by doing so the frame obtained is not satisfactory, since when the subject checks the photo to be taken on the screen, he does not look in the optical axis of the acquisition system, given that the screen is not aligned on this optical path, and therefore the photo obtained contains the off-axis profile of the subject (see for example document EP-A-0,269,022).
It has therefore been proposed, in order to overcome this drawback, in particular in document U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,410, to acquire the photograph by a digital means, via a video camera, and to reconstruct the image thus acquired on a video screen situated on the optical axis of the camera. In order not to interfere with the acquisition of the image, the video screen is actually positioned at 90.degree. with respect to the optical axis of the camera, and its image is virtually placed on said optical axis by means of a half-silvered mirror oriented at 45.degree. to this axis. In this way, the user is able to view his image, while remaining strictly aligned with the camera which is capable after subsequent processing to deliver a photograph. Although this device indeed makes it possible significantly to improve the quality, in terms of framing and checking of the frames taken by the subject, the user is not, on the other hand, given the possibility of choosing the exact moment of the shot, given that the initiative for taking the photograph still lies with the device.
In order to give a further degree of initiative to the user, an automatic device has therefore been proposed (see for example FR-A-2,665,315) in which a certain number of shots are made, then presented to the user on a video screen. The user makes a selection using a selector, in order to obtain the printing of the shot which he finds suitable. Although constituting an improvement in terms of checking by the user himself, this device still does not make it possible to take the photograph at the instant desired by the latter, that is to say when he is viewing on the video screen the image which he finds suitable.